Descriptive Sketches of the Spiritual World

Schmidt Number: S-2826

On-line since: 15th March, 2004

With all my heart I respond to the very kind greeting just expressed
by your representative, and I feel sure that those friends who have
come to this town to take part in Anthroposophical life in the company
of our Bergen friends will unite with me in this. We have had a
beautiful journey across the great mountains, which give us so
pleasant and friendly a welcome, and I think our friends will
certainly enjoy their stay in this old Hanseatic town all the time we
are able to be here. That marvellous handiwork of man, the railway
along which we traveled, brought to our notice more closely than in
other parts of Europe the impression of the energy of human creative
force in actual combination with Nature herself. When one sees the
rocks that had to be broken up in order that the hand of man could
construct such work, side by side with that other, constructed and
piled up by Nature herself, the impressions that pour in upon one do
truly make a visit to such a country one of the most beautiful of all
possible experiences. In this ancient town our friends will spend the
time of our sojourn amidst beautiful impressions which will be
preserved in their memories as the background of their visit. These
will be days for storing up memories, more especially because we can
satisfy ourselves by physical vision that even here, in this part of
the world, we can meet with Anthroposophical hearts which beat in
unison with our own in the search for the spiritual treasures of
humanity. Our visit to this town will certainly link us more closely
and more affectionately with those who have received us here in so
loving a way.

We are gathered here for the first time, and what I want to say to you
will have to be of an aphoristic character. I should like to speak a
little concerning that which belongs to the domain of the spiritual
world, and this is more easily and better said by word of mouth than
in writing, not only because, on account of the prejudices existing in
the world today, it is difficult to confide to the written word what I
am glad to entrust to the hearts of Anthroposophists, but it is also
difficult to do so because spiritual truths really can be better given
out in words than in writing or in print. This applies more
particularly to the more intimate spiritual truths. Although it has
been necessary for me to allow intimate spiritual truths to be written
down and printed, I always feel it bitterly. For the very reason that
the spiritual beings spoken of in such writings cannot read them, it
is a question of much difficulty, for books cannot be read in the
spiritual worlds. For a short time after our death they can still be
read in our memory, but the beings of the higher Hierarchies cannot
read our books. When I am asked whether they do not wish to acquire
this art of reading, I am obliged to say that according to my
experience they show no desire to do so at present, for they do not
consider that the reading of what is produced on earth is needful or
useful to them. The reading of the spiritual beings first begins when
men on earth read what is written in books, and the content becomes
their thoughts, the living thoughts of men. The spirits can then read
that content in the thought of man. But what is written or printed is,
as it were, darkness to the beings of the spiritual world; therefore
one feels that in confiding something to writing or print one is
communicating something behind the back of the spiritual beings, which
yet is for these spiritual beings themselves. This is a genuine
feeling, my dear friends, and one which, if I may venture to say so,
even a cultured citizen of the present age cannot quite share, though
every true occultist must have this feeling of reluctance to write or
to put into print.

When with clairvoyant vision we penetrate the spiritual worlds, it
seems to be of special importance that at the present time and in the
near future knowledge of the spiritual world should be made more and
more widely known, because the change in man's soul-life, which is so
necessary now and will become more and more necessary, will greatly
depend upon the spreading of Spiritual Science. You see, if we look
back with spiritual vision even but a' few centuries to olden times,
we come upon something which must greatly surprise anyone ignorant of
these things. We find that the intercourse between the living and the
dead is becoming increasingly difficult, and that a comparatively
short time ago there was a much more active intercourse between them.

When the Christian of the Middle Ages, or indeed the Christian of but
a few centuries ago, turned his thoughts when at prayer to the dead
who were near and dear to him, his feelings and sentiments were then
more able than are such thoughts today to press up to the souls of the
dead. It was much easier then for the souls of the dead to feel
permeated with the warm breath of the love of those who thought of
them and looked up to them in their prayers than it is today, if we
only follow the external culture of the age. At the present time the
dead are much more shut off from the living than they were a short
time ago. It is, in a sense, much more difficult for them to perceive
what lives in the souls of those they left behind. This lies in the
evolution of mankind, but in this evolution of ours must also lie the
recovery of this connection, this living intercourse between the
living and the dead. In former times it was still natural to the human
soul to be in touch with the dead, although no longer with full
consciousness, for men had ceased to be clairvoyant for a very long
time. In still earlier ages they could look up at their dead with
clairvoyant vision and follow their subsequent life, and just as it
was then natural to have living intercourse with the dead, so the soul
today, if it acquires thoughts and ideas about the higher spiritual
worlds, will acquire the power of establishing intercourse, living
intercourse, with the dead. And among the practical tasks of
Anthroposophy will be that of gradually building the bridge between
the living and the dead by means of Spiritual Science.

That we may clearly understand one another, I should like to draw your
attention first of all to a few points connected with this intercourse
between the living and the dead. I shall begin with a very simple
phenomenon forming a link to further spiritual investigation. Those
souls, whose custom it is to ponder over things a little, will have
observed the following phenomenon in themselves  and I believe
many have done so. Let us take the case of a man who hated someone or
perhaps was only conscious that he was antipathetic to him. Now when
the person who has been hated or disliked dies, it is often the case
that the man who hated him in life cannot continue to hate him to the
same extent; he cannot keep up his dislike for him. If the hatred
extends beyond the grave he feels a sort of shame that it should be
so. This feeling, felt by many, can be traced clairvoyantly, and
during this investigation one may ask oneself the following question:
Why feel shame for the hatred or dislike which was felt for the
dead, considering no single soul knew of its having been
harboured? When the clairvoyant investigator follows the
departed through the gates of death into the spiritual worlds and then
looks back at the man who stayed behind, he finds that, in general,
the former has a very clear perception of the hatred in the living; in
fact, if I may be allowed to use the expression, he sees the hatred as
it were. The clairvoyant is able to state very definitely that the
dead perceives the hatred, and we can also trace what such hatred
means to the dead. It creates an obstacle to his good intentions in
his spiritual environment, comparable to the obstacles we may
encounter on earth which stand in the way of the attainment of our
aims. It is a fact that in the spiritual world the dead encounter the
hatred or dislike felt for them as an obstacle in the way of their
carrying out their best intentions. So we can understand why, in a
soul who searches into himself a little, hatred, even if quite
justifiable, will die out because of the shame it entails after the
death of the hated one. If a man is not clairvoyant he certainly does
not know the reason, but a natural feeling in his soul tells him that
he is being observed. He feels: The dead man perceives my
hatred. This dislike of mine is an obstacle in the way of his good
intentions. Many deep feelings exist in the human soul which are
made clear when we ascend to the spiritual worlds and face the
spiritual facts which are the cause of these feelings. Just as on
earth we do not wish to be observed externally, physically, when doing
certain things  and in fact refrain from doing them if we know
ourselves to be observed  so we do not go on hating a man after
his death if we feel ourselves observed by him. But the love, or even
sympathy, which we feel for the dead man really makes his journey
easier; it removes obstacles from his path. What I am now saying,
namely, that hatred creates obstacles and love clears them away, does
not imply any interference with Karma, any more than do many things
that happen on earth which we must not consider as directly belonging
to Karma. For instance, if we knock our foot against a stone we must
not always put that down to Karma  at any rate, not to moral
Karma. In the same way, it is not in contradiction to Karma that the
dead feel relief because of the love that flows up from the earth, or
that they encounter obstacles blocking the way of their good
intentions.

Another thing which will appeal even more strongly with respect to the
intercourse between the living and the dead is that the dead in a
sense also require nourishment, though, of course, not the same
nourishment as do human beings on the earth, but spiritual psychic
nourishment. Just as we on earth must have our harvest-fields in which
the fruits ripen upon which we support our physical life (I may use
the comparison, for it corresponds to the facts), so too must the dead
have their harvest-fields, from which they can reap the fruits they
need in the time between death and a new birth. When clairvoyant
vision follows the dead, it can see that the sleeping human souls are
the harvest-fields of the dead. It is, indeed, not only surprising,
but really extremely upsetting to a man who for the first time is able
to see into the spiritual world, to perceive how the human souls
living in the intervening period between death and a new birth hurry
to the sleeping souls, seeking for the thoughts and ideas to be found
in them. From these they obtain the food supply which they require.
When we go to sleep at night the thoughts and ideas which have passed
through our minds in our waking hours come to life  they become
living beings, so to speak. Then the souls of the dead draw near and
take part in these ideas, and in so doing they feel themselves
nourished. Oh! it is an extremely affecting experience when we turn
our clairvoyant vision to the dead who nightly visit their sleeping
friends. (This applies particularly to blood-relations.) They wish to
bathe in and, as it were, nourish themselves on the thoughts and ideas
that the living took with them into their sleep, but fail to find
anything nourishing. For there is a very great difference between one
idea and another as regards our sleeping state. If we are busy all day
long with the materialistic ideas of life, giving our minds only to
what goes on in the physical world and to what can be done there, and
do not give a single thought to the spiritual worlds before going to
sleep  indeed, in some respects just the opposite  we can
offer no nourishment for the dead. I know some parts of Europe where
the young people are so educated that they go to sleep after having
tried to drink as much beer as they can hold! That means that the
thoughts and ideas which they carry over cannot live in the spiritual
world, and when the dead approach them they find a barren field; this
is just as hard for them as when our own crops fail and famine ensues.
Particularly in our present time great famines can be observed in the
spiritual worlds, for materialistic feelings are very prevalent now,
and there are a great number of persons who consider it childish to
think about the spiritual world. They thus withhold from those souls
who ought to obtain nourishment from them after death their necessary
soul-food.

In order that this fact may be rightly understood it is necessary to
mention that after our death we can feed on the thoughts and ideas of
those souls with whom we were in some way connected in our lifetime.
We cannot draw nourishment from those with whom we had no connection.
If we propagate spiritual science today, so that we may once again
have living spiritual content in our souls, then, my dear friends, we
are not only working for the living that they may have satisfaction,
but we try to fill our hearts and souls with thoughts about the
spiritual world, knowing that the dead who were related to us on earth
must be nourished by them. We feel today that we are not only working
for the so-called living, but that by spreading Spiritual Science we
are also serving the spiritual world. When we are addressing the
living, talking to them about what this daily life should be, then, by
reason of the satisfaction which these souls experience, we are
creating ideas for their night-life which can be fruitful nourishment
for those whose Karma has led them to die before ourselves. That is
why the need is felt, not only of making Anthroposophy known by the
ordinary outer methods, but there is also an inner longing to
cultivate it in groups, for it is of great importance that persons who
study Anthroposophy should associate together. As I have already said,
the dead can only draw nourishment from those with whom they were
connected in life, and they try to bring souls together so as to make
the harvest-fields for the dead ever more extensive. Many a man who
can find no harvest-fields after death because his whole family are
materialists, can find some in the souls of the Anthroposophists with
whom he has associated. That is a deeper reason why we should work
together and are anxious that any member who dies should, before his
death, become acquainted with persons, Anthroposophists, who while
still on earth occupy themselves with spiritual things, for he can
afterwards draw nourishment from them when they are asleep.

In the early days of men's evolution, when men's souls were still
filled with a certain religious spiritual life, the religious
communities, and especially the blood-relations, sought intercourse
with the dead. Now, however, blood-relationship has lost its power and
must be replaced more and more by the cultivation of a spiritual life
such as that of our Movement. Thus we see that Anthroposophy can
promise to create a new bond between the living and the dead, and that
we can thereby be of use to the dead. And when we today with
clairvoyant vision find persons living between death and a new birth
who have the unfortunate experience of discovering that all those they
knew on earth, even their own relations, have only materialistic
thoughts, we recognise the necessity of permeating the culture of our
day with spiritual thoughts. For instance, we find in the spiritual
world a man we knew on earth who recently died leaving behind him
relations whom we also know, a wife and children, all of whom in the
external sense are quite good people. With clairvoyant vision we see
this man unable to find his wife, who was the very sun of his
existence when he came home after a hard day's work; yet because she
had no spiritual thoughts in her heart and mind he cannot see into her
soul; and, if he is in a position to do so, he inquires: Where
is my wife? What has become of her? He can only look back at the
time when he was with her on earth; but now, when he wants her most of
all, he cannot find her. This may happen. There are many people today
who more or less believe that the dead, as far as we are concerned,
have passed into a sort of nothingness, and they can only think of
them with entirely materialistic thoughts  no fruitful thoughts
whatever. When we look down from the after death life upon someone
still on earth who was fond of us but does not believe in the survival
of the soul after death, at that moment, when our whole attention is
centred on trying to get into touch with the loved one, our vision
becomes as it were extinguished, for we cannot find the living friend
nor come into touch with him; yet we know it could easily be done if
there were any spiritual thoughts in his mind. That is a frequent and
very painful experience of the dead. Clairvoyant vision can perceive
many a soul who, after death, finds many obstacles put in the way of
his intentions through the thoughts of hatred by which he is followed;
yet he can find no comfort in the loving thoughts of those he left
behind, being unable to contact them because of their materialism.
These laws of the spiritual world, which can be thus observed with
clairvoyant vision, are really and truly valid, as can be seen in
cases which we have been able to observe. It is instructive to observe
how the thoughts of hatred, or at any rate of antipathy, work on, even
if they were not formed in full consciousness. Schoolteachers can be
observed who were generally considered severe and were unable to
attract the love of their young pupils, whose thoughts of hatred and
dislike are innocent, so to speak. When such a teacher dies, one sees
how here too the thoughts that follow him are, as it were, obstacles
to him in the spiritual world. The child or young person does not
reflect, when the teacher dies, that he ought not to go on hating him,
but he naturally goes on doing so, remembering how he was tormented by
him. By means of these glimpses we can learn much as to the relation
between the living and the dead, and what I have been trying to put
before you today is for the purpose of suggesting something which may
be developed and be a good result of our Anthroposophical strivings. I
mean what is known as Reading to the Dead. It has been
proved in our Movement that we render immense service to those souls
who have died before us by reading to them about spiritual things. The
way to do this is to direct your thoughts to them and, to make this
easier, picture them standing or sitting in front of you. You can read
in this way to several at a time. You need not read out loud, but
follow the written thoughts attentively, always keeping the dead in
mind, thinking: He is standing before me, I am reading to
him. It is not even necessary to read from a book, but you must
not think abstract thoughts, but think each thought out clearly; that
is the way to read to the dead. This can be carried so far, although
it is more difficult to do, that you can even read to someone with
whom you were only distantly acquainted if you have had thoughts in
common with him, such as a belief in the same conception of the
cosmos, or if you had the same thoughts about some domain of life
which brought you into personal relationship with him. It may be of
great help to read to him after death. This has been done in all ages.

I have been asked, What is the best time for this, but it
is quite independent of time. The thing that matters is that you
should think the thoughts through to their end and not think
superficially. The subject must be gone through word by word, as if
spoken inwardly If this is done, the dead read it with us. Such
reading is not only helpful to Anthroposophists  far from it! A
short time ago one of our friends was disturbed every night, as was
his wife also. They felt a disquietude; and, as the man's father had
recently died, he came to the conclusion that the soul of his father
was present, wanting something of him. Our friend then came to consult
me; and it appeared that his father, who in his lifetime would never
hear a word of Spiritual Science, now felt a very strong need to learn
something of it. The son and his wife then read to his father the
Course on St. John's Gospel which I once gave in Cassel, and this soul
was very greatly helped, and felt himself lifted above many
disharmonies which he had been feeling after his death.

This case is all the more remarkable because the dead man had been a
preacher, constantly addressing the public from his own religious
standpoint; yet after his death he could only be satisfied by having
an anthroposophical elucidation of St. John's Gospel read out to him.
Thus we see that it is by no means necessary that the dead we wish to
help should have been Anthroposophists in life, although, of course,
we help the latter more particularly by reading to them.

When we observe such a fact as this, my dear friends, we gradually
acquire quite different thoughts about the soul of man. The human soul
is, indeed, much more complicated than is generally supposed. What we
are conscious of is really but a small part of our soul-life. Much
takes place in the subconscious depths of the soul of which man knows
but little. Often it is the very opposite of what he believes and
thinks in his normal consciousness. It may often occur that a member
of a family is attracted to Anthroposophy while his brother or his
wife or someone with whom he is closely connected dislikes it more and
more and rages against it because he has joined it. There is often an
increasing dislike of Anthroposophy in such a family, so that life
becomes really difficult because of the attitude of these good friends
and dear relations. Now, if such souls are investigated clairvoyantly,
it is often found to be the case that in their subconscious depths a
profound longing for Anthroposophy is developing. Sometimes the
relation who raises the strongest objection in reality longs
subconsciously more intensely for Anthroposophy than does the member
who attends all its meetings. But death lifts the veil from the
subconsciousness and levels all these things out. It frequently occurs
that a person may be dulled as regards what lies in his
subconsciousness, where there may be a very strong yearning for
Spiritual Science. By raging against it he deadens the longing of
which he was not aware, but after death it will come out all the more
strongly. Therefore we should not omit to read to those souls who in
their lifetime fought against Anthroposophy, for indeed it often
occurs that we can help those most of all.

The question frequently asked in this connection is: How can we
know that the dead really hear us? Well, of course it is
difficult to know this unless we have clairvoyant vision, but if we
regularly think about the dead and work for them, we may suddenly come
to feel: They are listening. This feeling is only lacking
if we are inattentive and do not notice the peculiar feeling of warmth
which is often present when we are thus reading. We really can acquire
this feeling, but even if we fail to do so, my dear friends, there is
a law which must often be applied to our relation to the spiritual
world. It is the following: If we read to the dead and they hear us,
we most certainly help them, but even if they do not hear us we are
fulfilling our duty, and perhaps eventually we may succeed in making
them hear. In any case, we are certainly doing good, for we are
filling ourselves with thoughts and ideas which will most certainly
serve as nourishment for the dead in the first-mentioned way. So that
nothing is lost, and the practice of this custom has proved that the
longing on the part of the dead for what is thus read to them is
certainly widespread, and that we can render immense service to those
to whom we read the spiritual wisdom which has now been brought to
light.

Thus we may hope that the partition separating the dead from the
living may become thinner as Spiritual Science is more widely known in
the world. Truly it will be a beautiful result of the work of
Anthroposophy, paradoxical though it may seem, if men eventually learn
by practical experience, and not merely in theory, that we only have a
difference of experience when we have passed through so-called death
and are in the company of the dead. We can even help them to share in
what we ourselves take part in physical life. We are forming an
entirely wrong conception of the life between death and rebirth if we
ask: What is the good of reading to the dead? Can they not see
for themselves all that we can read to them, and know it all much
better than we do? This question can only be asked by one who is
not in a position to judge of what can be experienced in the spiritual
world! As you know, a man may be in the physical world without
acquiring knowledge of it; and if he is not in a position of being
able to judge of this or that, he cannot acquire knowledge of the
physical world. The animals live in the physical world with us, yet
they have not so much knowledge concerning it as we have. The fact
that the dead live in the spiritual world does not necessarily give
them knowledge of the world, although they can see it. The knowledge
which can be acquired through Spiritual Science can only be acquired
on earth; it cannot be acquired in the spiritual world. If, therefore,
the beings in the spiritual world are to possess it too, they can only
gain it from the beings still on the earth. That is an important
secret of the spiritual worlds. We may live in them and be able to
perceive them, but the necessary knowledge concerning these worlds can
only be acquired on earth. Here Imust mention something about
the spiritual worlds which I shall amplify in my lecture tomorrow
 something of which most people have no correct conception.
While man between death and rebirth is living in the spiritual world
he has more or less the same longing as we here below have for the
spiritual world, and he expects from us on earth that we should show
him things connected with the earth, and cause them to shine forth so
that they can be seen by him and thus give him the knowledge that can
only be acquired on the earth. Not without reason has the earth been
founded on the spiritual cosmic existence; it has been called to life
so that what can only be brought about on earth can come into
existence. Knowledge of the spiritual worlds which transcends the
vision and perception of those worlds themselves can only be acquired
on earth. I have already said that the spiritual beings of the
spiritual worlds are not able to read our books, and I must now add
that what lives in us now as Anthroposophy is to the spiritual beings,
as well as to our own souls after death, what books are to human
physical beings on our earth  something whereby they acquire
knowledge of the world. But these books which we ourselves are to the
dead are living books.

Realise this significant saying, my dear friends, that we must furnish
literature for the dead! Our own books are in certain respects more
patient; they do not cause their letters to vanish into the paper
whilst we are reading them. We human beings often take the opportunity
of reading away from the dead by filling our minds with material
thoughts which are really invisible in the spiritual world. As the
question is often put to me whether the dead themselves know all that
we are able to give them, I must say that they cannot do so; for
Anthroposophy can only be established on earth, and from thence must
be carried up into the spiritual worlds.

When we ourselves observe these worlds and have a little personal
experience of them, we find ourselves confronted with quite different
conditions from those prevalent here on earth. That is why it is so
extremely difficult to express these in human words and thoughts.
Often when one tries to speak in a concrete way about the conditions
in the spiritual worlds it all sounds paradoxical.

Here I may perhaps tell you incidentally something of a being, a
deceased human soul with whom, because it knew much, I have been able
to make investigations in the spiritual world concerning the great
painter Leonardo da Vinci, and especially as regards his celebrated
picture of the Last Supper in Milan. When one investigates a spiritual
fact in cooperation with such a soul as this, it can point to many a
fact that one might not discern simply by clairvoyant vision into the
Akashic Records. The human soul in the spiritual world can indicate
these, but can only do so to an investigator who has understanding of
the things it wishes to point out. Suppose, together with such a soul,
one investigates the way in which Leonardo painted the world-renowned
Last Supper! What remains of that picture today is hardly
more than a few specks of colour, but in the Akashic Records one can
watch Leonardo at work and can perceive, although it is none too easy,
what the picture was then like. If one is able thus to investigate, in
company with a soul not in incarnation but who has a connection with
Leonardo da Vinci and studies his paintings, one observes that this
soul points out this or that. For instance, it may make one realise
the actual faces of Christ and Judas on the canvas. Yet one becomes
aware that the soul could not do this unless, at the time of showing,
there was the necessary understanding on the part of the living
investigator. This is a sine qua non. The discarnate soul
itself only learns to understand what till now it could only perceive,
during the time the living soul is being willingly taught. Thus a soul
with whom one has had such an experience  which can only be
experienced in the above-mentioned way  says to one,
symbolically speaking of course: You have brought me here to
this picture. Because you yourself felt the need of investigating the
picture, I on my part felt the impulse to look at it with you!
After that follow various experiences, but the time comes when the
soul either vanishes or says: Now I must go. In the case
to which I am referring the dead soul said: Up to now the soul
of Leonardo da Vinci was quite willing to have the picture seen, but
it does not now wish the investigation carried farther.

In telling you this I am giving you a very important detail of the
life of the Spirit. As we in physical life always know what we see and
always know that we are looking at this or that  as we see these
roses here on the table  so in the spiritual life we always know
when a spiritual being is looking at us. When we pass through the
spiritual worlds we always feel that this or that being is looking at
us. In the physical world we are conscious that we go through it
observing the things around us, but in the spiritual world we feel
that this or that being is looking at us. We are constantly aware of
being seen, of being appraised, and this leads us to form decisions to
do something or other, knowing that we are being approved of or the
reverse; and if there is anything we ought or ought not to do, we
either do it or not accordingly. Just as we pluck a flower because it
takes our fancy after we have seen it, so in the spiritual world we do
a thing because it pleases some being, or refrain from doing it
because we cannot stand the glance that is turned on such an action.
This is a state of things to which we must grow accustomed. Over there
we have the feeling of being seen, just as here we feel that we see.
In a sense what is passive here is active there, and what is active
here is passive there. From this you can see, my dear friends, that we
must acquire absolutely different concepts if we are to understand
aright the descriptions referring to the spiritual world. You will see
how difficult it is to coin in ordinary human language the
descriptions of the spiritual world which one would so gladly give.
You will realize that for many things the necessary understanding must
first have been created.

There is just one thing more to which I should like to draw your
attention. It might be asked why anthroposophical literature as a
whole describes freely enough what takes place in the spiritual world
immediately after death, what takes place in Kamaloca, and afterwards
in Spirit Land, but tells very little of the separate clairvoyant
glimpses? It may very likely be supposed that it is far easier to
observe s particular soul after death than to trace the experiences
generally described; but this is not the case. I shall make use of an
example to prove this.

With the rightly developed clairvoyance it is easier to perceive the
greater events, such as the passage of the human soul through death
into Kamaloca and in its further ascent, than it is to see the
particular experiences of a given soul: just as in the physical world
it is easier to recognise what is regularly subject to the influences
of the greater heavenly movements than what is in a sense
spasmodically influenced by them. You can all reckon on the fact that
the sun will rise tomorrow morning and set at night, but it is not
easy to foresee what the weather may be, So it is with clairvoyance.
The accounts we generally give in our descriptions of the spiritual
worlds may be compared with the knowledge we have of the general
course of the heavenly bodies. We can always reckon that these things
will be fulfilled as described. But the separate events in life
between death and rebirth are like the weather conditions on earth,
which are, of course, subject to law, but are more difficult to
recognise; for even on the earth itself one can hardly tell in one
place what the weather will be in another. It is not easy here in
Bergen to know w hat the weather in Berlin may be, although we know
the relative positions of the sun and moon there. To follow up an
individual life after death is more difficult, and demands a more
special cultivation of the gift of clairvoyance than to follow the
general course of the human soul. If the training be carried out
aright, knowledge of the general conditions is acquired first, and the
rest, which appears to be easier, comes much later  after much
schooling. A man may have been able for a considerable time to see
quite clearly as regards Kamaloca and Devachan and yet find it
extremely difficult to read the time by the watch concealed in your
pocket. The things of the physical world are most difficult of all to
the clairvoyant training. It is exactly the reverse as regards
acquiring knowledge of the higher worlds. A man makes mistakes here
because there still exists a natural clairvoyance which is uncertain
and subject to many errors. This may persist for a long time without
giving the clairvoyant vision the outlook on the general conditions
described by Anthroposophy, which to the trained clairvoyant comes
more easily. These are the things of which I wished to speak to you
today in respect of the spiritual world. Tomorrow we shall continue
these observations and enter somewhat more deeply into them.